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Following the money trail

Yesterday, as expected, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission voted 4–2 to approve SugarHouse's redesigned proposal for a slots parlor, parking garage and hotels on the Delaware river waterfront.

We were heartened by the two commissioners, Natalia Olson de Savyckyj and Nancy Rogo Trainer, who voted against the proposal. "It looks like it's a tin roof from the sides," Olson said of SugarHouse's plan. "It looks like a Wal-Mart, dressed up."

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Recent Press Releases

Citizens Applaud Two Planning Commissioners Who Bucked Pressure and Voted No on SugarHouse

Planning Commissioner Calls Casino Complex a 'Dressed-Up Wal-Mart'

June 25, 2009

PHILADELPHIA

The Philadelphia City Planning Commission yesterday approved the development plan for a casino slots parlor on the Delaware riverfront by a vote of 4-2, despite raucous objection by community activists.

According to Casino-Free Philadelphia organizer Lily Cavanagh, speaking in front of the panel, "This hearing is a farce. A redesigned SugarHouse casino slots parlor, if built, would be a clear testament to poor city planning, assuming there's any planning going on at all."

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Anti-Casino Activists from Philadelphia and Across the US to Protest Inside Harrah's Chester, PA Casino on June 6

June 3, 2009

PHILADELPHIA

On Saturday, June 6, opponents of casino gambling will go inside a slots parlor to take action on the casino's own turf. Advocates at the event, called Beat the House, will work in teams to demonstrate how the marketing of slots results in the cultivation of out-of-control gamblers, on whose backs the industry thrives. Anti-casino activists will also conduct a colorful and noisy picket outside the casino, Harrah's Chester Casino.

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Recent Press Coverage

Our Current Campaign

Declaration of Independence from Casinos

We seek to embolden one Philadelphia elected official — a Philadelphia politician representing us in City Hall, Harrisburg or even Washington — to publicly adopt the position that casinos, no matter the location, would be bad for Philadelphia.